A new study suggests that kids may need a little more latitude with their free time instead of having their days packed with lessons, sports and structured activities.

"The more time kids had in less structured activities, the more self-directed they were and, also, the reverse was true: The more time they spent in structured activities, the less able they were to use executive function," said study author Yuko Munakata, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Munakata said that her own children, who are 5 and 8, loved hearing the results of the study. "They would like less structure," she noted.

Dr. Caroline Martinez, a developmental pediatrician and behavioral specialist at the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, explained that executive function includes a broad range of thinking skills that include planning, problem-solving, making decisions and regulating thoughts and actions.

"You don't have a chance to develop those skills in structured activities and classes," Martinez said.

It's more and more common for parents to schedule their children in a wide range of activities, primarily to keep them busy and engaged, or to help ensure they maintain a competitive edge in sports or academics. "In some ways, it's the way the world is going," Martinez noted.

But she encouraged parents to offer children a balance between some structured time, where they can learn a specific skill, and some free time.

This isn't the first study to question the value of overly involved parenting. Research published last year in the journal Parenting: Science and Practice by a different group of researchers found that preschoolers with mothers who tried to direct their play were less happy than were children with parents who didn't interfere.

The new study, published recently in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, was an effort to determine whether a lifestyle of scheduled, structured activities affects the way a child's brain develops.